Weekend Box Office Wrap Up: July 27th, 2014

Two super powered individuals went toe-to-toe at the box office, and the eventual winner proved brains beat brawn.

The number 1 film this weekend is Lucy (read our review) with $44 million. The premise might be extremely far fetched, but something about this unconventional sci-fi flick from director Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita, The Professional) struck a chord with audiences. It’s also already Besson’s second highest grossing film – behind the first Transporter – after its first three days.

Heading into the weekend, most expected Lucy to post halfway decent numbers, but few predicted it would hit $40M+. Clearly that Avengers and Captain America star power is strong with Scarlet Johansson.

Hercules (read our review) is the number 2 film this weekend with $29 million. Like with Lucy, Hercules exceeded expectations this weekend, and did so despite a general sense of disinterest from moviegoers pre-release.

Dwayne Johnson has been mostly hit or miss over the past few years, capable of generating huge numbers as part of the Fast and Furious ensemble or barely making a blip like with the drama Snitch. Depending on how it performs, though, Hercules could fall somewhere in the middle – decent enough numbers to turn a small profit, but nothing on the order of Johnson’s massive blockbusters.

Coming in at number 3 is Dawn of the Planet of the Apes with $16.4 million. Fox’s blockbuster sequel continues to post strong numbers on the back of positive word of mouth from moviegoers. Thus far, the film has grossed $172 million domestic and $353 million worldwide.

In at number 4 is The Purge: Anarchy, which fell a massive 66% from last weekend and grossed $9.8 million. Clearly audiences weren’t as keen on The Purge concept this time around, but with $51 million so far the film is already plenty successful.

Rounding out the top 5 is Planes: Fire & Rescue with $9.3 million, bringing its domestic total up to $35 million. Walt Disney Studios’ latest animated release is well below expectations and its predecessor’s pace. We’d surmise it’s probably time to either put this franchise on the straight-to-DVD circuit or ground it indefinitely.

The number 6 film this weekend is Sex Tape with $5.9 million. The Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz raunchy comedy had a rough outing last weekend and that trend continues. Sex Tape has grossed $26 million over the last two weeks.

Transformers: Age of Extinction is the number 7 film with $4.6 million, which brings its domestic total up to $236 million. Michael Bay’s latest spectacle-laden blockbuster is slowly inching its way up the top 10 for 2014 domestic releases (it’s currently number 3), but with $996 million and climbing, Transformers 4 is already the highest grossing worldwide release of the year.

Coming in at number 8 is the Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton comedy And So It Goes with $4.5 million. Douglas and Keaton typically post decent numbers on opening weekend, but this one fell really flat. That being said, the film received almost no marketing, so it could hold well if word of mouth is strong.

In at number 9 is Tammy with $3.4 million. The Melissa McCarthy comedy is up to $78 million.

Rounding out the top 10 is A Most Wanted Man with $2.7 million. One of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s last completed films; A Most Wanted Man did pretty well in limited release with a per-screen-average of $7,526/screen.

[NOTE: These are only weekend box office estimates - based on Friday and Saturday ticket sales coupled with adjusted expectations for Sunday. Official weekend box office results will be released on Monday, July 28th - at which time we'll update this post with any changes.]

22 Comments

Post a Comment

Want to change your avatar?Go to Gravatar.com and upload your own (we'll wait)!

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Rules: No profanity or personal attacks. Use a valid email address or risk being banned from commenting.

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

If your comment doesn't show up immediately, it may have been flagged for moderation. Please try refreshing the page first, then drop us a note and we'll retrieve it. Keep in mind that we do not allow external links in the comments.

Mr.Obvious 8 months ago

Hercules at no.2.
Hmm.. I guess that creator boycott appeal from Alan Moore worked. Either that or it’s Johnson’s bad wig.

Or they have a bad taste after that horrible Hercules film earlier this year.

Or they’re saving money for Guardians this week.

Genuinely have no idea myself but I doubt a boycott would be the reason because a majority of the audience won’t have even heard it was happening and wouldn’t care if they did. As for the bad wig, not something audiences haven’t seen before. Looked fairly natural to me though when I saw the film.

By the way, I’m interested how Hercules will fare in the UK since Apes opened last week and could ride the number 1 wave a second week in a row and The Purge: Anarchy opened opposite Hercules this weekend and the first didn’t do too well over here last summer.

Genuinely have no idea when Lucy releases over here. It hasn’t been advertised yet so it’s got to be 4 weeks away at the least. We haven’t even had any Turtles TV trailers, it’s all about the Guardians and The Purge after a week of Apes and Hercules ads.

Solo movies do not have to be made with the sole purpose of introducing a character… Where did you get that from? And I haven’t heard much about a solo Black Widow film, so yeah, but I’m glad you randomly brought it to our attention on an unrelated article. Obviously, Scarlett Johansson being the star of the number 1 film this week kills her chances at any leading role in the Marvel Universe. Clearly.

The two new movies look boring. They should have showed better beasts that Hercules fights, but from what I heard, they quickly summarize the 12 trials early on. Apparently Herc is opposed by a [human] king in this one. Pass.

Also I read that Lucy doesn’t have but one martial arts/fight scene. Everything else is fantasy/visual. Pass.

The beasts are mainly shown when his cousin tries to hype him up in the opening scene to a group of pirates that Hercules and his group of mercenaries have been hired to capture or kill for money.

It’s basically just stories to make him a mythological demigod instead of just a brilliant warrior with the Hydra’s heads revealed to be something else entirely.

I’d compare it to the Conan reboot from 2011, which I enjoyed. Thing is, with the summer’s biggest and most anticipated movie out next week, I’d suggest saving your money for that and catching Hercules after.

Wow Scarlett Johannson toppling The Rock at the box office, who would’ve thought?

It does prove two things.

First the idea that Dawyne Johnson is one of the biggest movie stars’ is really an illusion. He’s popular yes, and good in supporting roles of franchises. But he’s not a bankable standalone box office actor. He has charisma and screen presence, but hasn’t proven yet that he can successfully headline a movie where he is the main attraction. Something for WB / DC to think about where Shazam is concerned.

Surely a solo Black Widow movie is a lock now. If Johansson can build on Lucy’s success and increase her star power even more, then no way would Marvel miss that opportunity. Widow is already well established with audiences and it will still be some time before a solo Wonder Woman movie becomes even remotely possible. So the demand for that long awaited female superhero franchise can be met for sure if Marvel play it right.

Also to mention that Johannson is the hottest actress alive but that’s well known. already.

I saw it at a screening, and I am no fanboy, I actually expected it to suck, but since it was free, I went and watched it, and while it wasn’t a masterpiece, it was actually quite good. The trailers actually make you think it’s going to be the typical cheesy mythical Hercules story, but it actually wasn’t, and I kind of like the direction they went with it. I don’t want to say more or it’ll spoil it… But it was definitely a nice surprise.

Lucy, I haven’t seen yet, but from reading the reviews, it basically looks like it’s as cheesy as the trailers make it look…